New Thunderstorms
by Ana Morales
Summary: The daughter of Tim Drake and Cassandra Cain has returned to the U.S. from Japan after her parents' murders only to find that life is not as easy as she would hope. Will she be able to go it alone? Rated for language. Please R&R!
1. Part One

Thunderstorms: Part One  
*Disclaimer Credit: All existent DC characters and fan fic chars are property of their prospective owners!  
  
Annie sat on her front porch as rain fell in sheets onto the roof. The wind blew the water into her face, drenching her jet-black hair and gi, but she didn't care. Her mistake cost her parents their lives, and she knew that there was no way to atone for such a horrendous error. As she sat there, a miserable sight with her gi sticking to her skin and water dripping off her stubborn nose, her temporary guardian peeked through the silk screen of the front door.  
"Ane-san, it is not good for you to be out in this. Haitte kudasai." He said. "Please, come inside."  
"Chotto o-machi, kudasai, Hiroshi-san." She said, staring out across the hazy Japanese landscape with an indecipherable emotion in her warm brown eyes. "Just a minute."  
"Ii." Hiroshi nodded and started leave, but paused. "Annie—you are not responsible for what happened. You must know that, hai?"  
"Arigato, Hiroshi-san." She replied. When he was gone, she murmured, "But I am."  
She continued to watch the rain fall with indifference. The only thing that kept her American tears from falling was her Japanese education. It would be rude and disrespectful to disregard Hiroshi-san much longer. Self-disgust boiling inside her, she rose and swiftly delivered a purging spinning heel kick to one of the porch posts with her bare foot. She misjudged the target and would suffer a bruise tomorrow—but she was immune now to the physical pain. Frustrated and ashamed by her lack of concentration and accuracy, she gave the same post a spinning roundhouse kick countered with a right knifehand. This time she nailed her opponent; the whole house shook from the blow. Finding ironic comfort in the exercise, she continued to strike the posts, alternating knife hands with inside blocks and spinning heel kicks with side snap kicks, picking up speed and intensity as if to relieve the pain and rage in her soul. The anger inside her began turning to shame, then grief, and the tears she had restrained for so long now fell, pooling with the rainwater on the woven mats that covered the porch.  
"Ane-san!" She ignored her Sensei's son. She was in no mood to talk now, especially not to him. She prayed that he could not see her tears. "Annie!"  
"Leave me, Rei!" Annie choked out the order, not daring to take her eyes from the post for fear of losing her focus as she lashed out at him. The young man blocked her half-hearted outside block easily and pulled her into a liberating hug.  
"Kekko, kekko." He whispered. "Alright, alright, cry all you want, you've deserved it."  
"Rei, don't…" Her protests were weak and she knew it, but there he was, offering a much-needed hug. She clung to him fiercely a moment as she temporarily eradicated her tears and forced herself to calm. How was it that he, Rei Shiva, only three years her senior and whom she had known since the age of four, could know her so well? While everyone else, even her parents, complained of her ambiguous personality, he read her like a book. At last she pulled away, wrapping her arms around her sides and walking to the other end of the porch. "Stop, Rei. I need to pay for what I did."  
"David Cain murdered your parents, Annie, not you. You had no hand in that." Rei said. She shook her head and walked to the other end of the porch.  
"I knew he was in the area. I could have said something to Mom, or Dad, but I didn't."  
"You made a judgmental error. I won't say you didn't, or that you didn't mean to keep it from them." He nodded. "You'll have to live with that decision for the rest of your life."  
"All this could have been avoided," Annie growled, "if I hadn't underestimated my enemy. I didn't think he would dare come near us, and he did."  
"You can't do anything now, Annie. Byoki desu." Rei told her gently. "You're going to be sick, if you stay out here. Haitte Kudasai." He walked over and touched her arm.  
"Iie." Annie shook her head and pulled away from him. "Rei, he tried to kill Jared! My three-year-old brother!" Remembering herself, she lowered her eyes added calmly, "Arigato Rei, but kekko desu. I'm fine."  
She couldn't discuss her feelings with him. Not only was he full-blooded Japanese, he was male. She was a female of Japanese-American heritage, and in this culture it was deemed dishonorable to show your feelings publicly. Though his family and hers were close, even their parents did not always share emotional sentiments with one another.  
Her parents were murdered, that was true. But the way they were murdered…the pain of the loss intensified as the vision of her parents appeared, her father, Timothy Drake, with a bullet wound to the head and her mother, Mute Cain, an unintended casualty, with a bullet wound through her heart. In their earlier lives, they would have been able to top Cain before a single shot was fired; not now. She came home that day only ten minutes late from her Shotokan instruction with Lady Shiva, Rei's mother, and was not a hundred yards from her door when she heard Jared's terrified screams. She sprinted inside to see her parents on the floor and David Cain cornering Jared. Before she had the chance to think, she dove at Cain; her only thoughts were for her brother then. Cain turned and gave her an evil grin as he attacked her with a drawn knife. The next thing she knew, she had turned the knife on him; the blade struck true and he fell…  
It did not bring the peace she had expected. Instead the revenge only increased the pain in her soul and the emptiness in her heart. She was weaker now than ever, unable to face her young brother who cried for her daily. Her shame was too great, and she would bear it alone; she would not allow her transgression to poison her brother. But how could she face him? How could she face anyone again?  
A rumble of thunder gave her the answer she needed. Looking back across the lush green hills, she found that the rain had stopped. Insolent rays of light streaked through the treacherous holes in the clouds, and Annie closed her eyes.  
"How can the sun shine today? Does it wish to mock me?" she asked Rei softly. He put an arm on her shoulder, then led her out from under the eve and into the yard.  
"Maybe it isn't mocking you. Perhaps it means to give you hope." Rei replied, looking up into the clouds. "Your parents wouldn't want you to mourn like this. You must take care of yourself and your brother so that you can keep their legacy alive, Ane."  
"I'm not worthy." Annie said, her voice devoid of any emotion.  
"Let's worry about that later." He told her, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Come. It will be rude to neglect Hiroshi-san any longer."  
"Hai." Annie nodded and walked with Rei back up the steps. Hope. Is there such a thing, was there ever? She asked silently. Turning back to look at the sky, she frowned. I don't even know anymore.  
  
Three years later  
  
Silence and darkness. Atop a skyscraper in the center of Osaka, two shrouded figures crouched. One had a pair of binoculars and was focusing on the bank across the plaza. They spoke in hushed Japanese. "What do you think, Komadori?" he asked. "They're in there, all right." his partner replied. She drew a length of synthetic grappling rope from around her well-defined waist. "Let's go."  
Without another word, she launched herself effortlessly over the side of the building and slid down, then belayed away to land softly on the roof of the bank.  
"Wai--oh, why do I bother?" the man murmured, shaking his head and following his headstrong companion. "She stopped listening ages ago."  
She landed softly and silently in the shadows of the bank rafters. Four men stood below, all clad in dark, unmarked clothes. Three stood watch while the fourth worked on the lock of the vault.  
"Come on, Eddie! Hurry up! The boss wants the shipment in on time!"  
The girl-woman smiled maliciously. "Ooh, Americans. And what are you doing so far from home?"  
The man called Eddie moved away from the vault and looked up. "What the--?"  
There was no time for any more words. She swung from behind into Eddie's back, knocking him across the floor and into the vault door. Without pausing, she whirled around and gave the speaker a sharp roundhouse to the head. He was unconscious before he hit the cold ground and she turned to the other two who stood with guns drawn.  
"Any takers?" she asked, coolly.  
"Shoot her already!" the larger yelled.   
Neither of them moved. "But…but Ray, she's--she's the komadori!"  
"I don't give a damn!" he bellowed, cocking his glock and lifting it.   
The woman blurred and a moment later she had the gun in her hands and the man on his knees. "Didn't your parents ever tell you not to play with guns?" With three fluid strokes she disassembled the weapon and threw the pieces aside. "Oh, go on. Shoot me, if you're going to." she said, goading him on with her warm brown eyes. "Go on." She kicked him once more for good measure.  
"You bitch!" the floored man yelled, taking a gun from his shaking comrade and firing. The laser bullet sliced through her shoulder and fire flared in her eyes. She moved not one inch from the impact. Instead she grabbed him by the collar and began to beat him, though the blood began to soak her suit. No man pulled a gun on her. Ever. He would pay for such an infraction. She broke his nose and jaw with the same swift stroke, and his collarbone with the reverse. He moaned, being unable to speak, and she continued to thrash him, taking out all her pain and suffering on his pitiful hide. She didn't care anymore who it was that she beat for her parents' deaths, as long as it was someone. The remaining thief backed away as he watched her savagery turn his friend from and strong and able man to a quivering, bloody mess. He was almost to the door when the woman's companion dropped silently behind him.  
"Miss me much?" he asked. The thief opened his mouth to scream and the man's hand flew to his throat, squeezing a pressure point that had him unconscious before sound could escape. The man bound him,set him in a corner and turned to see that the man his partner was beating was also unconscious and sitting in a pool of his own blood. "Komadori, stop! Stop!" he demanded in a sharp voice. He took her by the shoulders and dragged her off of him. "Why are you--" he stopped when he saw her wince. Only then did he notice the blood from her shoulder wound. "Let's go. The Police will take it from here."  
  
"What were you thinking, Annie? I've never seen you that angry, that…that primal!" The man yelled. The pair sat within the home of Patrick and Miyoko Kobayashi O'Neal, bandaging the woman's shoulder.  
"He pulled a gun, Michael." Annie spat, removing her cowl. She spoke in English out of respect for Mr. O'Neal, but wouldn't have any of the same courtesy in tone for her lifelong friend. "I messed up, I know."  
Mrs. O'Neal, a petite Japanese woman with warm almond eyes, carried in a tray of steaming green tea from the kitchen. "Yes, and you got yourself shot because of it, Miako." she replied, using one of Annie's endearments. "You don't need to injure others to still your own pain. You know better than that."  
Annie colored, embarrassed to admit that what Mrs. O'Neal said was true. "Hai. Arigato gama sa, Miyoko-san." she said, bowing her head. "Thank you for teaching me."  
"Never mind that now. You just take a little break, okay?" Mr. O'Neal remarked. "And drink some tea." he took a cup from his wife and bowed his head as was custom, then handed another to Annie. She took it and bowed. "We all make mistakes." Mr. O'Neal continued. "Learn from them, don't repeat them."  
"But Dad--" Michael began to speak but was silenced by his mother.  
"Michael Kentaro Kobayashi O'Neal, drink." she ordered, handing him a fresh cup.   
He bowed, then placed it aside and knelt in front of Annie. "You could have died." There was a pain in his ghostly green-gray eyes that made her shiver.  
"I think he's the one who should be worried about that, Michael." Annie replied, dourly sipping her tea and turning the cup in her hands.  
"I mean it, Annie! I couldn't bear losing you. None of us could, especially Jared. You know that."  
"Yes, I do." she replied, turning her wrists to see the thin, faded pink scars at the base of her palms. She winced, remembering how selfish she had been shortly after her parents were murdered. At fourteen she didn't know how else to handle her loss and one day locked herself inside the family dojo, slicing her wrists with the sharp edge of her best shukusen, bladed fan, hoping to make it look accidental. To her dismay, although perhaps luckily, Lady Shiva found her and was able to get in. She bound Annie's wrists and proceeded to give her the worst beating of her life for attempting such a dishonorable and selfish act. Her other wounds healed, but the scars on her wrists remained, serving as a constant reminder of her foolish past. From that day on, she committed herself to raising Jared, refusing help even from the O'Neals, her Japanese godparents, and found a new hope in him. It was hardly easy at first, because he trusted her so completely that she found herself lacking in every respect imaginable, and yet he loved her. Some days it was incomprehensible.  
"Well, we'll just leave you two to chat, then." Mr. O'Neal remarked, breaking the silence and offering his arm to his wife. "Shall we, my dear?"  
"I'll clean up, Miyoko-san." Annie said quickly.  
Mrs. O'Neal nodded with a gentle smile and she left the room with her husband.  
"There's nothing you can say to change the way I feel, you know." Annie said, running a finger over the rim of her teacup and gazing blankly into the amber liquid. "So don't try."  
"I don't want to change the way you feel about your parents." Michael replied. "I just don't want to see you in pain. There are a lot of people in this world who care about you, Annie Drake--"  
"Even after what I've done?" she asked coldly, eyes shooting to meet his.   
"You weren't the reason your mother and father were murdered." Michael said firmly. "Even if you had said something, fate would still--"  
"There is no such thing as fate." she growled. Fate? What was that? There was only destiny, good or ill, but dying at the hands of a maniac? God wouldn't be so cruel to her parents, who fought their entire lives for justice. It just couldn't be.  
"All right then." He allowed. Pausing a moment, he pursed his lips. "If it's someone's time, no one can argue that. If I were to die tomorrow, that would be it, Annie."  
"Don't even think it." she muttered, fixing her eyes on the tea again.  
"There was a time that the light in your eyes flickered for no one. What happened to that hope?"  
Hope. The same word Rei used three years ago. Was there such a thing? And again Annie thought, I don't even know anymore. What she knew was dust, and what she understood was nothing but the shadow of memory. She had to start over now, rebuild in her mind what society called hope, called faith, called trust. She would redefine the words, come to accept them unconditionally, and then what? Would those meanings too be dashed?  
"Annie?"   
"What? Oh…I…I don't know." She replied, blankly staring at the table.  
"Look," he said, sitting beside her on the couch and running a hand through his jet-black hair, "I talked to my parents, and they've been in contact with Kon-El and Ms. Sandsmark."   
Annie snapped to attention. "What about Kon and Cassie?"  
"They want you to move to Gotham, New York. With Jared." he said. "I…think it might be good for you. Kon-El and Ms. Sandsmark are your godparents, your legal godparents, Annie. Besides, your entire family is there--"  
"My family is here, Michael." she said firmly. "I haven't got family in America, save Kon and Cassie, the other members of the YJ, maybe. But if you mean Bruce Wayne--"  
"He's your grandfather."  
She let out a burst of laughter. "Hardly! If he were my grandfather, he'd take more interest in us. He's never come to visit, although he has the means. And when Mom was pregnant with Jared? Nothing. Not even when Jared was born. As far as he's concerned we don't exist."  
"I don't think that's true."  
"I don't want to leave."  
"Why?"  
Why? She paused; could she answer that question? Would she? She didn't want to admit that she was even slightly afraid of the unknown, of her "family" in America. She'd hardly knew any of them except Kon-El, Cassie, and Kyle Harper, and even Kyle was a mystery.  
"I can't tell you."  
"Look, I think it's a good idea, Annie. Really." Michael drew her into a hug and she drew him close, releasing the stinging tears to soak his black shirt. She hated crying. It showed her weakness and her need for help. Her parents taught her that crying sometimes helped, but to cry as much as she was now? She didn't know anything anymore except that it felt good to be held by Michael just now.  
"I can't do this on my own, Kentaro." she murmured, using his Japanese name and resting her head on his shoulder. "I can't raise Jared by myself."  
"No one expects you to." he replied, brushing her hair away from her face. "That's what family is for. Besides, you're doing a great job. Just try it, and if you don't like America, you always have a home with us."  
She shook her head. "No, I have to be independent for once…I'll go. But if I come back…I'll find my own way."  
"I know. That's what makes you a Drake."  
  
Three months later  
  
Within the sterile, hi-tech walls of the New Justice League of America's headquarters, Annie waited with anxious anticipation. She was finally back in the place where her parents grew up, (or at least spent most of their young lives) and she didn't have any idea what to expect. She had a place to live already; Kon-El and Cassie had purchased an apartment a few blocks from the headquarters for her and Jared to live in, because neither Cassie or Kon-El had space for them, and signed the papers before they even arrived. She tried to talk them out of it, but they would have none of it. Now, while she moved in, Cassie thought she ought to reconvene with at least some of her family. She wondered what they would think, and then asked herself why it mattered. The white light of the fluorescent bulbs above her gave her light brown eyes amber highlights and her tanned skin a warm glow. Her dark hair fell loosely just past her shoulders and her long bangs were tucked behind her ears. Dressed in a form-fitting black tee and khaki wide-legs, she bore a striking resemblance to her mother and in her back pocket she carried her father's collapsible bo staff. His now worn green-tinted shades were perched on her head. She heard footsteps behind her and whirled, pulling the staff.  
"Whoa, easy there!" Cassandra Sandsmark smiled. "It's just me."   
Annie put the staff away and gave a half smile to her godmother, ashamed. "Sorry, Cassie. I should have been able to recognize your step." Cassie was just as she remembered, with golden curls now cropped in a manageable bob and provocative and intuitive blue eyes that could bring any man to his knees.  
"Annie, you're only seventeen." Cassie said gently. "You have time to learn, and with reflexes like yours, it'll come soon enough."  
"Mom and Dad could name people by their step at sixteen." Annie rationalized.  
"You aren't your parents, Annie Drake." Cassie said. "But you have their skill and ingenuity. You'll learn. You're already better in your respects than most of the younger members of the NJLA."  
"I think that's one of the best compliments I've ever received. Thank you." Annie replied somberly, and attempted a smile.  
"I wouldn't say it if it weren't true." Cassie smiled, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Come on, I'll introduce you to your American family, Ane."  
  
"Does anyone know why we were called here?" Clark Kent asked. A few members of the NJLA were assembled in the large meeting hall, waiting for Cassie and Kon-El, who arranged the event. No one seemed to know what was going on exactly or who the "mystery guest" was. Bruce Wayne just sat silently as usual while Clark Kent, Diana Prince, Dick Grayson, Wally West, Kyle Rayner and Kyle Harper argued floridly.  
"No clue on my end. I'm not even that important and Kon called me, said to be here but nothing else." Kyle Harper replied.  
"Cassie told me it had something to do with Tim." Dick put in.  
"What?" Diana Prince asked. "But…we haven't heard from Tim since he left years ago…and then Mute left for Japan to find her family and Dick, you left for Europe."  
"But I came back." Dick reminded.  
"Her point is, the JLA started falling apart after Tim left…what does Cassie know about Tim?" Kyle Rayner asked as he scribbled on a last minute drawing for the newspaper.  
"I don't know!" Dick cried, exasperated.   
Just then Cassie came through the double doors, a large smile on her face. "Hi everybody!" she said cheerily. "There's someone here I'd like you all to meet. Annie?" Annie emerged from behind Cassie, looking around the room in quiet awe. She hardly recognized the place where she'd spent much of her earliest childhood. Then again, the last time she'd been here was when she was four, and her memory could not possibly have retained it that well.  
"Whoa! Mute got younger!" Wally yelped, falling out of his chair in surprise. "That can't be…"  
Annie looked at him curiously a moment. "Wally…?" she asked softly.   
"Oh yes it can, Wally. Everyone, this is Annie Drake. Tim and Mute's daughter. Do you remember her?"  
"ANE MIAKO CASSANDRA CAIN DRAKE!" Cassie's introduction was interrupted by Kon's cry from the hall.   
Annie's stomach sank. "Here we go…" Annie sighed. "I'm dead, and I haven't been here ten minutes…" Now she knew why she was afraid to face family, as she looked around the room. No one would understand her, or Jared, and would never be able to connect with them. These people could connect with their parents, but not with them.  
Cassie put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. "Annie, you know Kon has a temper."  
"Yes, and I also know that whenever he uses my full name, I'm really in trouble." Annie replied absently, glancing around the room. "Dad once told me about a door…" She moved to the wall directly to her right and slammed a fist into it. Across the room, part of the wall slid up. Thanks, Dad, she thought. At least now she could get away to be with her thoughts. She didn't know why she'd agreed to come, but she'd have to tough it out for at least the week.  
"What on earth? How did you know about that?" Clark asked.   
She pulled a small disc from her pocket and threw it out in front of her; it opened up to a round, disc-shaped hoverboard. She wasted no time in jumping onto it and speeding for the door. "Later, Cass."   
"Kon, we have got our hands full with this girl." Cassie said as Kon-El walked into the room, looking disheveled and grumpy.  
He sighed. "I'll speak with her. Did you know she got herself a job to pay us back for the apartment on 13th and Main?"  
"Good. A job builds character." Diana remarked.   
"She's too flighty." Bruce said coldly. "If she can't stand still long enough to explain herself--"  
"She seems…confused, very lost, Bruce." Diana said, interrupting him. "She's hardly flighty. She's used to solitude, she's always been this way, remember? Just like her parents." Turning to Kon, she added, "If getting a job to pay you back is her way of finding herself here in America and being just as independent, let her do it, Kon-El. I doubt it will harm her."  
He sighed and ran a hand through his black hair. "All right. I'll enroll her at the Hamilton and Jared at Thompson Elementary tomorrow. Late registration is better than never."  
  
The first day of classes at Hamilton Hill High School in Gotham, New York. She didn't dress up, she didn't have anyone to impress. Instead she donned her usual khakis, a black tank top and her floor length fitted leather trench coat--her parents had given it to her for her fourteenth birthday, and now she never went anywhere without it. It was a small kind of comfort that no one but she could understand. She dropped Jared off at the elementary, only a block away, and after assuring him that she'd come back as soon as the day was through, she caught the bus downtown to HHHS. Once inside the school, Annie paused to look around. It was her first time in a public school; her parents home-schooled her all her life. The school itself was massive; the different levels and hallways seemed to blur together in an endless maze. How did anyone find their way? She shook her head and looked down at her schedule: History 1100 with Hamill, room 273.  
She made it to class just as the bell rang and took a seat in the back corner. While everyone else talked fervently about their summer vacations, she took out her laptop and started typing a letter to the O'Neals. One of her peers, a large football player-type with red hair, looked over and saw her sitting alone.  
"Hey gang, look, we've got a newbie!" he smiled. He got up and walked over to her. "Hi there, bright eyes, my name's Nash."  
She looked briefly up at him and then went back to typing her letter. "Nice to meet you. Please leave me alone."  
"Now don't be rude, babe." Nash smiled and shut the laptop, brushing some of her hair with his hand.  
Annie caught his fingers and twisted. "Don't touch me or my things."  
Nash yelped, but played it cool when Annie released him, chuckling. "Well, all I wanted was your name."  
"Leave her alone, Nash."   
Annie looked up at the speaker. What she saw startled her. He was tall and well built, lean with an air of solid character. His hair was raven dark and his eyes an icy blue. Just like Bruce, she thought.   
"Shove off, McGinnis." Nash replied.  
"My name's Annie Drake. Now would you please leave me alone?" she scowled at him. "Baka." she added softly in Japanese.  
"See? Now that wasn't so hard. Drake, eh?" Nash asked. "I'd be careful who you hang out with. You want to make sure you hang out with the right kind, if you catch my meaning."  
"Drake?" McGinnis asked. "Is that any relation to--"  
He didn't have time to finish as the instructor walked in, but there was something in his eyes that made Annie wonder if he knew about her family. She'd have to watch him, and carefully.  
"Welcome back, I'm Mr. Hamill, and I'll be teaching History 1100. Now please answer to your name…"  
She zoned out as the names rolled off his tongue. A few moments later, she heard her own. "Here." she replied, still typing out her note.  
"Miss Drake, please wait to write your letter until after class. Out of pure curiosity, are you any relation to Timothy Drake?"  
Her fingers froze over the keyboard and she slowly closed the laptop, raising her eyes to meet his. "Why does it matter?"  
"Who the hell is Timothy Drake?" Nash asked.  
"He used to go to school with me here a hundred years ago. He is also a ward of Bruce Wayne."  
"The rich guy Terry works for?" A blonde cheerleader asked, indicating McGinnis.  
Annie just shook her head at the stupidity of her peers. "Not that it matters, but Timothy Drake is my father."  
Hamill nodded. "Really? Give him my regards."  
"I'll do that." she mumbled. Even here she couldn't escape the pain. She wondered if maybe that was why she was here…not to escape, but to learn to accept the pain, live with it. It wasn't as though she'd never felt pain. And in that, she found some glimmer of what she might once have called hope.  
He finished calling role and slid a disc into the monitor. "Your first assignment is to write a poem--yes, a poem--" there were groans, "about what you would be like were you directly related to a famous person. Any famous person, good or bad, past or present. It must be at least a page long, of any kind of verse."  
"Verse?" The blonde cheerleader asked. "We're singing?"  
"No, Blade. Verse, meaning blank, free, or a set verse." Terry said.  
"Oh…"  
"You may begin. It is due by the end of the period, when you will all read them aloud to your peers and be graded accordingly." Hamill said, sitting down at his desk. "The clock is ticking."  
If I was related? Annie wondered, and began to type, the words flowing from her brain to her fingertips at an alarming rate, one so rapid that it scared even her. But the words were somehow right, and she didn't stop. Repressed memories of her parents flooded back with each keystroke, good memories, bad memories…ones forgotten to still the pain in her heart and make her hard to life's joys, perhaps even the truth of things. While her peers struggled with a first line, she typed out the last words and reread her work:  
I am called the Baby Bird.  
The Girl Wonder.   
Robin.  
Take your pick.  
I am my father's spirit.  
I am my mother's reflection.  
I am their legacy.  
  
I didn't ask for this.  
I didn't expect it.  
But I was born to it.  
The Mantle of Robin.  
And the Mantle of Batgirl.  
I am expected to follow.  
  
Why did I choose to do this, even when I don't have to?  
The truth?  
I'm not sure, exactly.  
Maybe because I make my parents proud.  
Maybe because it gives me something to live for.  
  
All I know is that I do it.  
Maybe I should have a reason.  
But I don't.  
And maybe it's that need to find a reason that causes me to do it.  
  
I love my job.  
My job is my life.  
And the rest is a façade.  
  
I am Batgirl's child.  
I am Robin's daughter.  
  
I am their successor.  
  
She exhaled as she read the last line. Yes, she was their successor, and she would have to behave as such from this point on. No more selfish acts, violent or otherwise. She was in America now, and it looked as though she would be staying quite awhile. All that mattered now was raising Jared and honoring her parents' memory by doing what her family did best--defend justice no matter what the cost. 


	2. Part Two

Thunderstorms: Part Two  
Okay, so this is the second part of Annie's intro--it isn't as good as the first part in my opinion, but bear with me, I'm new at this! And I know the ending is…iffy, but there's more to come, so go easy on me, please?  
Disclaimer: DC Characters and established fanfic chars are property of their prospective owners!  
  
"Come on, Jared, time to wake up. School's in an hour." Annie nudged her sleeping sibling as he lay curled up in his bed wearing his gi. She smiled to herself. Even after two months in America and a lifetime of batman/superman underwear, he still preferred to sleep only in his uniform. She hated to wake him; he looked so peaceful with deep, even breaths that made his small form move rhythmically. His dark hair matched hers and was still in the same place on his pillow that it had been when he first closed his bright, icy blue eyes.  
Slowly, those eyes now fluttered open and he sat up with a yawn. "Ii." He said groggily in Japanese. "Okay…Good morning."  
"Good morning, handsome. What do you want for breakfast?"  
He rubbed his eyes free of sleep and jumped down in stocking feet onto the slick wood floor. "Can I have some eggs, please?"  
"Anything you want." Annie replied with a smile. "I laid out some underwear, shirts and two pairs of pants for you to pick from on your toy chest. Think you can get ready all by yourself today while I fix breakfast?" she asked him with a wink. Her own body ached from the previous night's roof run, but she masked the fatigue well.  
His eyes lit up. He was being treated like a big boy! "Sure I can, Annie!" he ran over to the chest and untied his gi.  
Annie chuckled and walked into the kitchen. "Don't forget to brush your teeth." She walked to the refrigerator and took out the eggs.   
Jared was such a joy, her only joy, it seemed. He was beyond his years in maturity, somehow, always trying not to cry, even when he woke her screaming from a nightmare. He only had one nightmare, but then it wasn't a nightmare at all, it was reality. Three years after their parents' deaths they both suffered from the traumatic and bloody visions, though Annie was sure Jared's were much worse than her own since he had witnessed the entire thing. And yet most days he was a smiling, bright-eyed six-year-old without a care, and always trying to make her laugh. He was a strong one, just like their father. She wondered sometimes if he was stronger than she was; at least he could smile in spite of it all, something she still yearned to master.   
She brought out the skillet and turned the burner on low. These days you could put near-to-raw materials into a processor and have a full blown meal in a matter of minutes, but cooking was something Annie actually enjoyed. It reminded her of the days she spent in the kitchen with her mother. She chuckled at the small comfort, one of several she'd found since that fateful day. It was never anything much, that reminded her of her parents. A sound, a smell, a word, an article of clothing…she would make sure Jared would never forget these things. These were the most precious. She cracked the eggs into a bowl and began to beat them. Her eyes wandered to a vase of flowers on the kitchen table and she found irony in the fact that people who knew of their loss went out of their way to extend condolences and send flowers, which only threw salt on the wound as much as it was intended to help. Instead it was the daily things that helped; how Jared had a habit of balancing himself on one arm, the way Tim did, and how Annie always managed to sense something just before it happened, like their mother.  
She added salt to the eggs, sprayed the pan and poured the mixture into it. Jared emerged from his room wearing an orange shirt with red pants and his usual blue snap sneakers. Annie tried not to laugh as she scrambled the half-cooked mixture. "Look at you!" she grinned. "Do you want juice or milk?"   
"Juice." he replied, climbing onto the stool to get a cup from the cupboard. "I'll get it, Annie. You don't have to."  
"Arigato, Jomei." she replied, using his Japanese middle name.  
While they finished breakfast, Annie helped Jared go over his addition and then they walked the block to his elementary school. She watched him walk himself to his class and waved when the teacher met him at the door. The kindly woman smiled and waved back. Then she walked another block to the bus stop and rode it all the way to Hamilton. The wind whipped at her body when she hopped off and she pulled her black trench coat around her, lifting the collar to shield the lower part of her face. She hated the winter.  
She saw Terry McGinnis with his girlfriend Dana Tan standing on one side of the steps and Nash and his wrestling goons on the other. Great, two kinds of plague today, she thought.  
"Hey, look, it's Robin's legacy." Nash quipped. "How about that poem, Drake? You really are living in a fantasy world!"  
"Baka." she muttered, walking past. If she stopped to argue she'd waste her breath. There was never any point arguing with him. He was too thick to understand it, anyway. He hardly knew what a poem was, much less what a decent on was like. One down, one to go.  
"Don't pay attention to him." Dana told her gently. "It's not like he matters."  
"Did I say he does?" she asked, keeping her pace.  
"Annie--"  
She stopped and turned. "What do you want, McGinnis?" There was something about him that just annoyed her and she didn't know exactly what it was. Perhaps it was his likeness to her father's guardian.  
"Bruce--Mr. Wayne wants to see you. You and your little brother."  
She scowled. "Why would he want to see us? Who are we, to see Bruce Wayne?"  
"You're his grandkids."  
Annie looked from him to Dana and back at him, letting out a low chuckle. "That's a laugh. You're his errand boy and you think you know it all. You have a lot to learn." She kept walking. So Bruce wanted to see them now, did he?  
Nash whistled. "So saith the shrew-dyke."  
"Be careful what you say about that lady." A warm bass voice cut through the cold of the morning and Annie paused on the step. It couldn't be…  
"Oh yeah, and who are you?" Nash asked the man.   
"The name's O'Neal."  
She whirled around. That voice did sound familiar! But what was he doing here? She saw Terry and Dana give her strange looks and Nash chuckled.  
"And what makes you so special?"  
"Nothing. I'm only saying that you'd better be careful with that one." Michael caught her eyes and he winked. "She's a real tiger when she wants to be."  
She walked back down the steps to meet him, hardly amused. "Michael Kentaro Kobayashi O'Neal, what are you doing here?" She asked in Japanese.  
He pulled her into a warm hug. Something she'd missed. "Ane, this is America. They speak English here." he grinned, kissing her forehead. "And as for what I'm doing here, I'm working." He held out his arms to indicate the school. "Kon got me an internship and gave me a job."  
"The dyke has a boyfriend?" Nash laughed. "Man, you must be hard-up!"  
Michael turned. "For the last time, watch what you say."  
"And what are you gonna do about it?"  
"Excuse me, komadori. As long as you hide that pretty face, I'll have to do this." he whispered to her. Walking over to Nash, he moved so close that they were nose to nose and looked him in the eye. "You really don't want to make Annie angry, but when it comes to my friends, I'm the one to watch out for. Don't. Cross me."  
"Michael, cut it out. Just…go inside." Annie muttered, rolling her eyes. "Go inside!" she went over and hauled him away from Nash. "I don't need your protection and I never did! Get out of here!" she punched his arm rather weakly and he let out a small cry of surprise.  
"Hey! Annie, stop that!"  
"What are you doing here?"  
"I told you already."  
"Then why are you here?"  
He shook his head. "I'm here for work-study, Ane Miako. I'm upsetting you, I'll see you later, then." He nodded and trotted up the stairs into the building, nodding to Dana as he passed.   
"I can't believe this…what am I, a child?" she said after him. "Does he think I can't take care of myself?"  
She knew the answer to that, and the answer was no. As angry as she was, she was somehow glad to have him here. A familiar face. So Kon-El had given him a job, no doubt so that he could be here for her. It was a bittersweet surprise, one that she dearly needed and at the same time one that might break her. She glanced over at Nash, slightly surprised to see him duly shaken. She shook her head and went inside, hoping to forget an already stressful day in her studies.  
  
Things went as usual throughout the day, with Annie as the self-appointed outcast sitting in the corner, and when lunch hour rolled around, she went to sit by herself at a corner table to eat her rice ball and green tea. She watched as her peers separated into their various cliques and sat at different tables. There were the cheerleaders, the jocks, the geeks…and then there were the floaters. Among them were Terry McGinnis and Maxine Gibson, a computer hacker with a genius's IQ. Annie was more comfortable alone than with anyone else.  
"Is this seat taken?"  
She looked up into Michael's green-gray eyes and half smiled. "No." she looked back at her rice ball and poked at it with her chopsticks. She was glad to see him and at the same time a little nervous. Why can't I look him in the eye? She wondered.  
He slid beside her and brought out a bowl of cold teriyaki. "Rice balls, hmm?"  
"Yeah. Even after three months I still can't bring myself to eat pizza. Sad, isn't it? Rice balls as comfort food."  
"There are worse things." He put his hand over hers. "How are you doing? How's Jared?"  
She put down the chopsticks. She was making a mess of the rice ball anyway. "Look, I'm sorry about this morning." She blurted. "I just…didn't expect to see you--"  
"I know, it's fine. What I asked was how are you doing."  
"I'm fine, Jared's doing well in school." Annie looked up at him, expecting to see him angry. Big mistake. What she saw made her heart ache--nothing but concern filled his being. She fixed her eyes on the table again. "Why do you care so much?"  
He smiled. That smile always cheered her up, but now it only made the bittersweet pain stronger. "Because I'm your friend, Annie Drake. And friends support each other. You don't have to do it all on your own."  
"I don't need anyone's help." She pulled her hand from his and turned away.  
"Why are you being this way? I just want to help. Rei was going to come, but Michiko and Akio are engaged, and--"  
Annie's mouth dropped open and she turned back. "Michi and Akio are getting married?"  
Michael laughed. "I knew that would get your attention. And yes, they've only been in love with one another since birth."  
Michiko Midori was another childhood friend, the older girl who lived next door and always knew what to do. Akio Kiyoshi was the son of her Shaolin Kempo instructor and a close friend of Rei's and Michael's. The five youths grew up together in Osaka, always there for one another despite their difference in age. Now Michi and Akio were engaged and Annie hadn't heard?  
"I know that."  
"You're not even going to smile for that?" he asked her.  
She gave a half smile. "Of course I'm happy for them, Michael. I just…there's…" her eyes glazed. She couldn't explain, there weren't words. Instead, she just hugged him tightly. "I'm glad you're here."  
Michael sighed and hugged her back. "So am I. Now let's finish lunch or they'll think we're saps."  
Annie choked on her laughter. So long since she was able to do that. And it felt good, genuinely good. Suddenly the ache in her body disappeared, and she only felt slightly guilty.  
  
She didn't see Michael for the rest of the day and still felt the jab of remorse for hitting him, even if it was barely enough to bruise. She picked up Jared from school, the thought of her friend still weighing heavily in her mind.  
"How was school today?" she asked as they walked home.  
Jared smiled and held up a fist of papers. "I got an A on my art project and I'm student of the week because of my math and reading!"  
Annie took the papers and looked them over. One was a page of simple addition, the same one they'd worked on that morning. Another was a spelling test, devoid of any errors. She paused when she saw the third; it was a paste collage of construction paper and marker. His art project. On it she saw a house with five people standing in front. Two more, a man and a woman, were in the sky above the house.  
"Jared…who are these people?"   
"That's you, and me," he indicated each person with his small finger, "and Miyoko-san and Patrick-san, and Michael. That's their house, because we lived with them."  
"And who…who are these two?"  
"Mom and Dad. They're watching us. See?" he said, pointing to their eyes. "I think about them all the time."  
"So do I, Jare…so do I…" She kissed his forehead. "Listen, I have a surprise for you. Michael showed up at my school today."  
Her brother's eyes were wide. "Really? Michael's here? In America?"  
Annie nodded. "Uh-huh. He's staying with Kon-El until he can get his own apartment. It was Kon-El who brought him here."  
"That was nice of him."  
"Yes, it was."  
"Are we gonna see him soon?"  
"Actually, I thought we'd go to see him today. But first, we have to go see Bruce." She said to him. "He wants to talk to us, what about I don't know."  
"Maybe he just wants to say hello."  
"Somehow I doubt that…"  
They took the bus as far as the park and hailed a cab to go the rest of the way to Wayne Manor. For Jared, the manor would be a new sight. For Annie, there were vaguely potent recollections of the immense edifice that was a testament to Wayne's wealth and legacy. Both good and bad, she wondered why after all this time Bruce suddenly wanted to see them. He hadn't even spoken to her that first day she visited the NJLA headquarters.  
She paid the cab driver and they walked up to the gates of the manor.  
Jared's eyes looked ready to pop from his head. "This is where Grandpa Bruce lives?"  
Grandpa. He called Bruce Wayne Grandpa. She supposed he was in a way, being their father's guardian and their mother's mentor, but in that way only. Were he really their grandfather, he would have shown some interest long before now.  
"Yes, Jared. This is where he lives. If I remember correctly, he has a dog that you'll like very much." Annie pressed the buzzer at the gate.  
"Who's there?" McGinnis's voice. What a surprise.  
"Annie and Jared Drake, McGinnis. You said earlier Bruce wanted to see us, so here we are."  
"Oh. Yeah, just a sec."  
There was silence and then the gates began to open. Jared tugged on Annie's jacket. "Why are you so mean to him?"  
"I'm not mean, Jared. I just don't know him. I don't trust him."  
"You should at least give him a chance."  
She was stuck; of course Jared was right, but she still wasn't sure. Jared slipped his hand into hers and they walked up the driveway to the mansion. McGinnis waited at the door for them, trying to keep a large Doberman at bay and losing the battle. Annie sighed. There was a time Alfred would have been standing in McGinnis's place, and she would have given him a hug and he….she shook the thought away. That was in the past. Alfred was dead, and there was no bringing him back.  
"Ace! Hey, easy Scooby!" The dog pulled from McGinnis's grasp and bounded over to Annie, knocking her over.  
"Ow! Oh, come on, Ace! Yes, I'm glad to see you too. Now get off, come on." She laughed and the Doberman obediently stepped away and sat. As she got up and dusted herself off, Ace began to sniff Jared's hair, level with his large head.  
"Er, sorry about that."   
"It's okay, McGinnis. Ace and I are old friends. Except he was half that size last I saw him."  
"You know, you can call me Terry." he offered.  
"Why are you being so friendly?"  
"Why are you being so stubborn? Oh yeah, it's in your blood." Terry replied sourly. "You know, Michael O'Neal said you'd be like this."  
Her eyes had wandered to Jared and Ace, now getting duly acquainted, and they snapped to meet Terry's. "You talked to Michael?"  
"We're what I'd call friends."  
"Well, just because you talked to Michael doesn't mean you know me."  
"Just because you're hurting doesn't mean you can take it out on everyone else." Terry retorted, his eyes growing sad. "I oughtta know."  
"Look, I'm only here to see Bruce. I don't need your lectures."  
"Maybe if you hear it enough it'll stick." Terry spat. "I know what you're going through, believe me."  
"You have no idea what we're going through." Annie said, eyes dark. "Come on, Jared. Bring Ace, too. We don't need him getting sick." she brushed past Terry and Jared followed suit with the dog.  
"Wait, Bruce is--"  
"I know where Bruce is."  
"Annie's just a little grumpy because she didn't get much sleep last night." Jared explained to Terry. "She's actually really nice."  
"I hope you're right, kid."  
Walking into the manor was like turning back the hand of time. Very little, if anything, had changed since she'd last walked the halls. It was still the most melancholy place she knew, dark and drab, with very little color.   
Jared caught up to her and took her hand. "This place is scary, Annie."  
"I know it is." she said gently. "But I promise I won't let anything hurt you."  
She walked into the library and over to the familiar shelf. She remembered little else as vividly as she did these books. Tim and Mute had visited Bruce only once with Annie when she was seven, but the memories remained burned in her mind. She ran her fingers along the worn bindings of the books, now archaic by modern standards. Selecting one, she pulled it halfway from the shelf and the entire bookcase slid away. A vast, dark corridor was revealed and Jared hid behind Annie.  
"It's okay, Jared. Do you remember me telling you about the Batcave, where Mom and Dad used to train?"  
"This is it?" Jared gulped. "Well then…let's go see it…"  
She gave her brother a pitying smile and hugged him tight. "You're such a brave guy. What would I do without you?" They started carefully down the dusty corridor and left Terry standing with Ace.  
"She's a puzzle." He told the dog. "Two personalities, one person."  
Ace only sneezed and shook his head.  
"I guess you know more than I do, don't you boy? It's going to be really interesting having her around here. Especially if she accepts Bruce's offer. " 


	3. Part Three

Thunderstorms: Part Three  
  
The Batcave was dark as usual, but things were much more advanced than Annie remembered. For one thing, the computer had nearly doubled in size and file capacity. The woven sparring mat in the center of the cave had been replaced with another, and the mantles of past vigilantes were in lit glass cases in the corner, on display in memoriam to those who had fallen or retired. Annie winced, remembering the story of Jason Todd, the Robin before her father and the one boy Wayne actually adopted as his son. The joker had killed him brutally and some said Bruce never fully recovered.  
Now Bruce sat at the computer console, scanning files and drinking a cup of black coffee. "Come in and sit, the both of you." he said, not taking his eyes from the screen.  
"What do you want with us, Bruce? You never seemed to take an interest before." Annie scowled, stepping gingerly across the cool stone floor. She felt Jared squeeze her hand tighter and she squeezed back to comfort him.  
"Did they or did they not teach you not to speak back to your elders?" Bruce asked, turning to her and clutching his cane in both hands. Those eyes pierced her soul and she could tell he was reading her.  
"I'm not speaking back." she replied coolly. Her face was as stone, revealing none of her emotions. That at least was something her parents made sure she learned. "It's a valid question."  
"Hello, Grandpa Bruce." Jared said shyly, waving. "This place is big."   
Bless his heart, she thought, he's trying to relieve some of the tension.  
"Yes it is, Jared, which is why I suggest you stay close to your sister. I don't want you wandering off." Bruce said to him. "As for you," he indicated Annie, "since you're going to be here for awhile, I wanted you to know that until you prove yourself to me, you won't be running around as Robin as you have been for the last month or so."  
"I've never 'run around' as Robin." she remarked, chuckling lowly. Did he honestly think she wanted anything to do with him? "What I do at night is merely to defend justice in my own way. As I have done since I was twelve."  
"You call yourself Komadori." he growled. "What is that but 'Robin' in Japanese?"  
"Very different."  
Ace barked at the top of the stair and Terry McGinnis was dragged down into the Batcave with him. "Hey Scooby, easy!"  
It didn't surprise Annie that her classmate knew about the Batcave. It would have been more surprising had he not known, working for Bruce in his own home. Then again, it was Bruce Wayne, and for all his shortcomings as a family member, he could always hide anything from anyone if he wanted.  
"Terry, let him go." Bruce commanded, surprisingly calm. He had a way of doing that. He snapped his fingers and Ace came and sat at his feet. "I take it you two have met?" He asked, indicating Annie again.  
"Yes, sir." Terry nodded.  
"Good. I want you to spar."  
"Excuse me?" Annie cried. "You want me to fight him for the right to defend this city?"  
"No. I want you to spar with Terry for the right to wear your father's mantle. If you hold anything back I'll know."  
"Um, Bruce, maybe this isn't--"  
"Quiet, McGinnis!" The old man barked, eyes flashing. Annie knew that look well, for in his blue eyes was a power and a force that none but the incredibly foolish dared question. "I want you and Annie to spar. Neither of you may hold anything back. I want you both to see the extent of one another's skills."  
If this was some skewed attempt to get the two youths to reconcile their differences, neither wanted to ask. She let go of Jared's hand. "Seizant kudasai, Jomei."   
"Don't hurt him…" Jared replied, eyeing Terry before walking to kneel with his palms on his thighs beside Bruce.  
"I'll be careful. Who knows, I might be the one to get hurt." She glanced at Terry and walked over the sparring mat, surprised that Bruce would allow any kind of cushion within his dojo. She removed her shoes and bowed with palms on her thighs toward the mat. "Arigato gama sa." She murmured the usual adage of respect and stepped onto it. She didn't know why she was suddenly obliging the old man. Something inside her wanted to do it merely to show him that she could. She pushed pride to the back of her mind; it was a flaw she couldn't afford to have, not now.  
Terry moved for the shadows and Bruce stopped him. "No. You spar as you are, don't change clothes. Get a move on."  
He let out a heavy sigh and met Annie on the mat, pulling off his shoes and tossing them aside. "Okay, let's go."  
He was impatient. Something she could use. She bowed to him, all the while keeping her eyes locked with his own. Annie remembered a time when her own impatience landed her with two broken ribs and a bruised ego, courtesy of Lady Shiva. Rei had fared far worse that day when he attempted to intervene for her, only ten at the time. They circled a moment, each watching the other. Terry's eyes were everywhere, the floor, her feet, her arms, her eyes. She kept hers cemented to his baby blues, able to watch every muscle's contraction from the vantage. He was good, she could tell. His stance was one that could go any direction if the need arose. He lacked a certain amount of concentration, but his training was young yet. She knew Bruce would fix that soon enough.  
"You know, you don't seem surprised that I know about this place." Terry remarked dropping to the ground and attempting to sweep Annie with his leg.  
Annie leapt up to avoid it and pinned his leg to the floor as she came down. "I'm not." She replied, giving him a roundhouse to his shoulder. His torso twisted violently and she stepped from his leg. Ordinarily she would have gone for the head, but she didn't want to hurt him that badly. After all, he'd really done nothing wrong to deserve it, even if she didn't trust him.  
"Stop playing games." Bruce told them. "Focus, the both of you. And Annie, if you see an opening and neglect to take it again, I'll make you wish you had."  
She waited for Terry to get to his feet. Jared looked worried, and she didn't want to scare him. In that second, she paid for her lack of concentration. Terry delivered a perfect crescent kick to her upper torso and shoulder and had her pinned to the mat. The kick left a dull ache and she was impressed, but she didn't take the time to tell him--his arms may have held her shoulders to the floor, but his torso was unprotected and her legs were free. Annie took advantage of the situation and swiftly kicked his solar plexus. He gasped for air but didn't release her and her legs went around his neck, throwing him aside. She wasted no time in pinning him in a devil's triangle as he lay completely exposed, barring his arm with one leg and pinning the rest of his body with the full weight of her torso and the other leg, now wrapped around his left leg. "Move and I break it." She told him.  
"Yame." Bruce said. "Stop."  
Annie rolled away from Terry and kipped up to her feet, offering him a hand up. She didn't expect him to take it, and when he did, she gave a small smile. He had her respect, at least. "You're good."  
"Me? All I got in was one kick and you had me pinned in less than a minute." Terry said. "You're much better than me."  
"People rarely get one kick. Besides, you happened to kick the shoulder that got shot a couple months ago." She shrugged, rubbing the afflicted area. "As for being better, I should be. I've trained since I was three."  
"Is that even legal?"  
"In this family, it is."  
"Enough, the both of you." Bruce said. "That was the worst display I have ever seen from anyone, especially you, McGinnis. She walked all over you and you barely put up any kind of defense, much less offense. And you, Annie, you gave him too much time to act. I don't care if you're fighting Jared, you are never to give anyone any kind of a window, am I understood?"  
"Um, Grandpa Bruce--" Jared moved his hand to tap Bruce on the leg. He was fidgeting and looked very uncomfortable.  
"Quiet. I'm speaking to your sister, not to you."  
His hand recoiled. "But Grandpa Bruce--"  
"That's enough, Jared."  
"But I need to--"  
"What did I just say?" Bruce slapped him roughly across the face and anger started to boil in Annie's heart. There was more than one way to reprimand him. She watched Jared's face scrunch up in surprise and he whimpered, holding the pink cheek with his hands. He didn't cry.   
Annie rushed over and picked him up. "Bruce, he had to go to the bathroom! You had no right to hit him for that!" She turned to Jared. "Come on, we'll go to the bathroom. Then we're going home."  
Jared bit his lip and nodded.  
"The boy is crying. I would have thought that your parents would teach him not to do that, at least."  
She whirled, eyes dark and flashing. "There are no tears in his eyes, though he has more than enough reason! Discipline is one thing, but just for asking permission to use the bathroom? Thank God you never had children of your own, Bruce Wayne!" With that, she turned and walked for the door.  
"Annie, stop where you are!"  
Her step faltered, but she didn't dare stop, didn't dare let him know he had any kind of a hold over her. The visit was over, and no matter what the cost to her, no one could harm her brother. She'd promised him nothing would harm him, and she'd failed. She walked up the stairs and took Jared to the bathroom, out of Bruce's sight.  
Ace whimpered and Terry patted him on the head. "That didn't go very well."  
Terry could see remorse in the man's eyes and he paused before murmuring, "The boy needs discipline."  
"You shouldn't have slapped him. So the kid's got a small bladder, it's not like they're in Japan anymore."  
Bruce closed his eyes and clutched his cane, sighing. "Annie is so much like her father…and her mother. She's the perfect combination of the both of them."  
"If she's so perfect, why are you being so difficult with her?"  
"Because she can take it. If I don't push her, she won't get better."  
"But she said you've never--"  
"You can go now, McGinnis. Come back at nine."  
  
Annie stormed through the door of their apartment, fuming. Her shoulder was throbbing and her focus was solely on Bruce Wayne. She hated that bastard, for more than just striking her brother. He had ignored them, all of them, and now when it was most lucrative for him, he wanted to recruit Annie as another one of his puppets, his "children," and had the audacity to discipline them as though he were their guardian. She was so preoccupied that she didn't think anything of Michael O'Neal sitting leisurely in the living room, sipping a cup of green tea. When she burst through, he jumped to his feet.  
"Miako, what's wrong?" he asked.   
She walked right past him and into her room, slamming the door behind her. She needed to cool off, and the best way for her to do that was to meditate--alone.  
"Jared?"  
The six-year-old bit his lip. "Grandpa Bruce made Annie fight Terry McGinnis so she can be Robin and Annie beat Terry but he got her shoulder really bad, and I needed to go to the bathroom, but he got mad at me and slapped me and that's what made Annie mad." he said quickly, sitting down on the carpet with his legs crossed.  
Michael shook his head to process the information. "Bruce hit you?"  
Jared nodded. "Only I kinda deserved it, 'cause I interrupted. Annie got worse with Rei's mom, I remember."  
"Jared, he still shouldn't have done that. You aren't in Japan anymore, and very few people are as rough as Lady Shiva and get away with it. How do you feel?"  
"It's okay. It didn't really hurt all that much. Besides, it's worse that Annie feels bad. I know she would have stopped Grandpa Bruce if she could."  
It didn't hurt all that much, but Michael saw the beginnings of a small bruise on the boy's cheek. "Well, you're tough just like your sister. Speaking of, I think I'll go in and check on her."  
"I'd be careful. She doesn't like people to bother her when she's meditating."  
"I'll keep that in mind." he replied, trying his best to keep a straight face with the mature child. "Why don't you sit here in the living room and try to work on what homework you can?"  
He knocked on Annie's door and tried the handle; she hadn't locked it, which was a good sign. Leaving the door ajar, he walked in to find her kneeling on the carpet, eyes closed with her palms flat on her thighs and breathing slowly and deeply.  
"How did you get in here?" Annie asked calmly, her eyes still closed.  
"Er, Kon gave me a key, just in case you weren't here. Jared told me you went to see Bruce."  
"We did."  
"Bruce made you fight McGinnis?"  
"Yes."  
"Jared said he hurt you."  
"No, just reminded me of an old wound." She opened her warm amber eyes and looked up into his. "Bruce hit Jared."  
"So your brother told me."  
"Discipline is one thing, but backhanding him?"  
"I'm sure he didn't mean to be that rough."  
"The man has no heart." Annie spat out the bitter words, getting to her feet gracefully and stepping behind her shoji screen. She had to get out of these clothes--they reeked of the dank and musty cave and she wanted nothing to do with them. She quickly stripped them from her body, not caring that Michael was just beyond the screen.   
"Don't be so sure." Michael continued, undeterred by her loss and gain of clothing just out of his sight. "He just doesn't know how to tell you he cares, Annie. After all, you were born in Japan, he rarely got to see you."  
"And I suppose he couldn't afford to visit?" She slipped into a silk gi and kimono robe. The material felt good against her skin and she stepped out from behind the screen.  
"He is a busy man, he had business." he replied. "Surely you don't hold that against him? There has to be some reason why the rest of your family likes him." He looked at her somewhat disheveled appearance and sighed. "Come on and sit down."  
Annie obeyed; she didn't want to argue anymore. There was no point. She sat on her bed and he joined her, her comb in hand. He started to comb out her rumpled hair gently. Just like he used to, she thought. Her anger dissipated with each stroke of the comb. Something about the ritual calmed her, and she silently laughed at the femininity of the act.  
"Still playing big brother?" She asked him.  
"For as long as you need me."  
"I'll always need you." The words escaped her lips so fast that they surprised even her, and she blushed crimson. Had she really said that?  
Michael paused. "Not always. You're practically a woman." He continued to comb out her silky hair. "Hell, you are a woman."  
"So why are you still combing my hair for me?"  
"A perk."  
She gave a weak smile and caught his hand. "Well, I can't let you just have perks for nothing, can I? Besides, if I'm a woman, I can do this myself."  
"Yes, you can." Michael said, remaining behind her. She felt his warm breath on the back of her neck and she shivered. "And you certainly can't give me perks for nothing." He stroked her hair and then turned her head to touch his lips to hers.  
She jumped, surprised and scared. But his kiss was soft and gentle, just like his manner. His hand touched her cheek and he released her.  
"Did I frighten you?" Michael asked, searching her face with pure concern.  
"You…you kissed me."  
"Should I kiss you again?"  
She nodded numbly. He smiled and pulled her to her feet with him, then into his arms. Oh, it was sweetness itself, when their lips met a second time. It wasn't her first kiss; that had been from Rei Shiva on her thirteenth birthday as a present for her passage into teendom. But that kiss was devoid of any emotion. This, however, was emotionally charged and they both knew it. She held tightly to him, her friend and her love. Love? Yes, love…and she'd not known, not recognized it until now…but what were they doing? This couldn't be. He was twenty and she wasn't even eighteen…  
Annie pulled away. "Stop. We can't."  
Michael chuckled. "And why not?"  
"It's illegal, for one."  
"Only for another two months. December seventeenth rolls around and it's completely legal." He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her waist.  
"This isn't appropriate, Kentaro."  
"You…don't return my feelings, then? Because…I'd thought from the way you kissed me…"   
"No, it isn't that." She blushed and looked at the space between their bodies. "It's just that…I can't, I just can't."  
"Aw, go on and kiss him again, Annie!"  
The two turned to see Jared standing in the doorway with the largest grin Annie had ever seen plastered to his face. The pair jumped apart and she watched Michael blush. It new experience for the both of them, one that would permanently change their relationship.  
  
The next day she decided to go school in comfort, and dressed in a lavender gi top and black gi bottoms. On her feet were sandals--the cold weather was ignored. Michael was waiting for her in history class. She smiled and tried not to catch his gaze as she took her seat near the back of the classroom. She'd admitted to herself that she loved him yesterday, but no one else had to know.  
"What the hell? What is Drake wearing?" Nash chuckled, tugging at her pants as she passed.  
Her hand caught his. "I told you once, Nash. Don't touch me or my things."  
"Class, settle down." Mr. Hamill walked in with a stack of discs and a wide grin on his face. "Now, come on. Yes, that means you, Mr. Nash."  
"I'll see you after class." He muttered, sliding into a chair across from the captain of the cheerleading squad.  
"Some of you have had the pleasure to meet Mr. Michael O'Neal in the halls since his arrival yesterday." Hamill remarked, taking off his wire rimmed glasses and wiping them thoroughly with the edge of his tie. "It is my honor to introduce him to you now as your assistant teacher for the remainder of the year. Mr. O'Neal?"  
Annie watched him step up to the podium and clear his throat. She wanted to laugh; he looked so absurd at the teaching post. He'd tried to do his own tie that morning--it was skewed and rakishly knotted, and his shirt looked about one size too big.  
"Er, hello. As Mr. Hamill said, I'm Michael O'Neal. I'm twenty, I'm from Japan, and I have had the privilege to study with Lady Shiva for the last twelve years." He said, grasping the sides of the podium. "Excuse me, I'm not used to this."  
"Did you say you studied with Lady Shiva? The assassin?" An artist named Adam asked, eyes wide. "How could you…get the connections for that, much less get training?"  
Her classmates murmured in agreement. It was the question of the hour. Annie shook her head and sat back to watch the festivities.  
"Well, my connections come through a friend." Michael smiled. "Wouldn't you say, Annie?"  
She nearly fell out of her chair. He was bringing her into this? "Wouldn't I say what?" she asked innocently.  
"Are you saying Drake has connections to Shiva? Her?" Nash asked, laughing.  
She met Michael's eyes with her own, begging him to go no further. If she was dragged into this, she wasn't sure she would be able to pull herself out. To expose her skill this way was dishonorable and naïve--and she was neither.   
There was an assurance, or an arrogance, in her friend's eyes. "Annie, why don't you come up here?" he asked.  
"I'd rather not."  
"Stop being such an introvert, Ane Miako Cassandra Cain Drake!" He remarked, tossing something sharp and shiny at her. Everyone ducked as the fighting star flew past them. Cries of fear erupted from the quiet chatter of curious students, and Hamill barely had time to open his mouth to object before the weapon left Michael's trained hand.  
Annie caught it without blinking. "You could have hurt someone, Michael Kentaro Kobayashi O'Neal." She replied, getting to her feet. "Are you crazy? Wait, don't answer that." She remained calm as she walked up to the podium and held out the star for him to take.  
He knew exactly what she was about to do. He reached for it anyway. She pulled the familiar object from his grasp and grabbed his extended arm with her free hand, yanking him forward and throwing him over her shoulder. He fell to the floor and Annie held the sharp edge to his throat. She executed the movements fluidly and smoothly, one after the other. It was as easy as breathing. But to her peers, her movements were a blur and they no sooner blinked than Michael was on the ground.  
"You should know better than that, as a student of Sensei Shiva." She remarked. They shared a secret smile with their eyes and waited.  
It didn't take long for Hamill to react. "Miss Drake! Stop that at once!"  
Annie laughed softly, darkly, and let her friend go, giving him a hand up. "Mr. Hamill, I wouldn't have done it. Do you honestly think I'm that stupid?"  
"You're that crazy, you bitch!" Nash cried. "What the hell was that?"  
Michael's eyes flashed and the muscles in his arms tensed. Annie stepped back onto his foot subtly to keep him from doing anything stupid. His temper was never quick, but when it came to her or Michiko, he was always prone to violence in their defense.  
"Quiet, Nash." Hamill ordered and turned back to Annie and Michael. "Now what on earth were you doing?"  
"Catching him off guard." she replied, eyes devoid of emotion. She'd spent years schooling her emotions; she wasn't about to forget them now. "I figured he'd be able to at least drop me, being a student of an assassin as great as Lady Shiva."  
"I'm not sure 'great' is the word to use, Annie."  
"Yes it is." She turned and walked back to her seat, sliding in and opening her laptop. She began to type; it didn't matter what. She just wanted to remove herself from where she was, and if that took immersion into a paper, so be it.  
"What are you doing?" Hamill asked her, walking over.  
"Nothing."  
"Well, go to the office. Have them call your father."  
"That isn't possible."  
"Oh? Might I ask why?"  
"He's dead, sir. My mother as well." Her fingers hit the keys faster and harder now as she tried to keep composure. She didn't want to talk about this. She wanted to forget the pain, the past, everything in her life that once was. All that mattered now was Jared. Her focus was to be completely on him.  
My name is Annie Drake. Ane Miako Cassandra Cain Drake. My brother is Jared. Jared Jomei Cain Drake. I am a student of Lady Shiva and a friend to her son, Rei. I have been trained in five forms of martial arts and three kobudo forms. I am expected to follow after my parents. I am expected to be devoid of emotion. I am expected to be as stone. I am not measured by the standards of today's society--I am measured above them.  
She took a moment to read what she had been blindly typing as the words flew from her frontal lobe to her fingertips. She had to get her mind off the family, off the mantle she was expected to wear. Annie had no desire to wear it if it meant a life of servitude to Bruce's whims. She belonged to no one. Then again, did she have to belong to someone to be accepted? Kon-El and Cassie accepted her no matter what, as her parents did…  
"Annie?"  
She looked up to see Mr. Hamill standing over her.   
"Are you all right? You seem--"  
"I'm fine." Annie said. "If you want me to go to the office, I will." Annie shut her laptop and began to pack up. She just wanted out, no more school, no more complications, nothing.  
"Annie, stop." It was Michael's voice she hearkened to. He'd barely whispered and she obeyed. Now why did he have such power when Bruce had none? Oh, that's right, she thought sourly, I respect Michael. It was bad enough that they'd kissed the night before, but listening to what he was saying? She didn't want to listen to anyone.  
"What do you want, Kentaro?" All this in front of her peers. She could just imagine what things were going to be like tomorrow.  
"Kon-El told me to give you this. It's from Mr. Wayne." He walked over and placed a small disk in her hand.   
She looked down at it; it was just large enough to slide into the drive on her watch--something she only used for family business. "Why would I want anything from him?"  
"You'll want this, Ane." Michael spoke the words in Japanese. "It's about your father."  
"So, am I to understand you know each other?" Hamill asked. "Because if you do, I'd appreciate some kind of an explanation!"  
"I'll give it to you, Mr. Hamill." he replied calmly, this time in English. "Annie's had a rough few days. She should go home and rest."  
"She can't just leave!"  
"Sir, she's been experiencing trouble in her family. Now, you wouldn't want her godparents to have to call, believe me. I work for her godfather, and he's not the kind of man you want to tangle with, especially when it comes to Annie's family." The explanation seemed to fool her teacher, somehow. Something Michael had never done, and it made Annie wonder what else he could do. "Annie, why don't you read that note. Then go home. I'm sure you'll want to talk to Mr. Wayne about it."  
She slid the mini-disc into her watch and read the note:  
Robin, I want you to be ready by nine o'clock tonight for rounds. I was quick with you yesterday, and for that I apologize. I need you to help Terry. Please come. He needs you badly.  
Her surprise was seen by no one, and she glanced over at McGinnis. He nodded only slightly. He knew what Bruce had written on the disc. Bruce had addressed the disc to Robin. Was she to be Robin, then? And if so, did she want to be? 


	4. Part Four

Thunderstorms: Part Four  
  
Why she actually went to Wayne Manor that evening, she would never know. Annie wasn't sure why she was listening to a man she had no reason to like, but she would do it if only for McGinnis, someone she'd gained a new respect for. He certainly wasn't as clueless as he let on in school, but that was to be expected. Most people knew Bruce Wayne as a rich playboy back in the day, when he was really just the opposite. For Annie, the lines seemed to blur more and more between her and her own mantle in Japan, and she wasn't sure that was a good thing.  
  
She arrived at the manor promptly and was escorted down to the Batcave by Terry. It still didn't make sense to her that Bruce changed his mind in the course of one evening, she knew he was never given to brash decisions.  
  
"You wanted to see me again?"  
  
"You came?" Bruce asked her, turning from his post at the central computer. "I'm almost shocked."  
  
"You knew I would."  
  
He nodded. "Of course. Tim always did, even after we had a fight. And you are not unlike him, in fact there are times that you are exactly like him. And other times I wonder if you're really his daughter due to your faulty logic."  
  
"Unlike you, Bruce Wayne, I'm far from perfect." Annie spat. She didn't know if she wanted to be angry or to wait it out--an invitation from Wayne after a day like yesterday wasn't something that happened every day. She tread on eggshells--but did she want to care? She had been losing the battle with apathy since she'd arrived in America. It was eating at her soul, whispering in tones inaudible to her conscience, so that it slowly turned her heart to stone. She wouldn't let it win. "What do you want me to do?"  
  
"So I assume you're interested?" The old man asked, folding his hands over his cane. "What caused this change, might I ask?"  
  
"Apathy." Annie replied automatically. "There's too much in this world, in this city, already. If I don't care, if I don't fight for those who need protection, who will?" Somehow she knew just what to say, and she could have sworn she saw Bruce's blue eyes smile. Smile? Bruce Wayne?  
  
But he only nodded. "Good question. That's what your father said to me when I caught him down here the first time. And what your mother got so upset with me over, when I tried to make her rest after her battle with Lady Shiva. She wanted to keep fighting, no matter what. And I see that same light in you, Annie Drake."  
  
That surprised her. It was the most he'd ever said to her at all, much less about her parents. Was she truly like them? No…her father would not have struggled with suicide, turned his back on family selfishly. Her mother would never have approved of the way she fought with Bruce, no matter what the qualms, the arguments.  
  
"You are like them. Both of them. Even if you can't see it, I do."  
  
Annie's eyes darted to meet his. Had he read her mind? But how could he…she shook the thought aside. "My father never did the things I have. My mother never disrespected anyone without knowing what she was saying."  
  
"I said you were like them, Drake. I didn't say you were them." He remarked, patting Ace on the head. "But, I wonder…what about protecting yourself?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You know what I mean. For three years you've mourned, hiding from everyone who tries to help you. You claim that it's because you don't need help, but I think you do. You're just too afraid to ask for it." Bruce paused to feed Ace a biscuit, then looked straight at Annie. "If you honestly think that you're the reason your parents died, you're very arrogant. More so than I would have thought. But then again, that streak is rampant on both sides of your family."  
  
Tears stung behind her brown eyes. Bruce was completely calm, emotionless. What he said was true, and now he was making her face that truth, as ugly as it was. She was afraid. But what was she afraid of?  
  
"What are you afraid of, I wonder?" Bruce continued, as if reading her mind. "Of failure? Raising your brother on your own hasn't been easy, I know. You've had to grow up very fast, just like I did. Just make sure that in taking responsibility you don't shut anyone out. You know who I'm talking about."  
  
Yes, she did. Annie had hardly spoken to Cassie or Kon-El since she'd arrived. And after that botch of a reunion at the NJLA Headquarters…she wasn't sure if she wanted to. She'd gotten a job at a local Japanese restaurant to earn money to pay them back for the apartment they'd purchased for her and Jared. But…Bruce would never even bother to steer her away from making mistakes. This certainly wasn't the Bruce Wayne she'd spoken to yesterday. What was he up to?  
  
"Why are you doing this? One day you act like you don't care and now you're concerned? I find that a little hard to believe."  
  
"I could say the same about you." he replied. "You were quite angry with me yesterday…you had good reason…and now you're standing here. What of that?"  
  
"An invitation from Bruce Wayne doesn't come often. I figured it was worth the effort."  
  
"Did you now?"  
  
She didn't like his attitude. There was something in it that made her feel like she was being mocked, even when she couldn't read a damn thing in his emotionless features. "Stop patronizing me, Bruce." She remarked, dropping her pack at her feet. "I asked you a question, and it was forward enough. I deserve an answer. Or should I go?" She turned and motioned to the entrance to the cave, taking a step for effect.  
  
"Ane Miako Cassandra Cain Drake, stop running away!" Bruce barked suddenly.  
  
That was the Bruce Annie knew. "Running away?" she asked. "From what? There's nothing here for me to run from!"  
  
"Responsibility to your parent's mantles is." He said calmly. "You claim to care about them, about preserving their memory for Jared. And what of their jobs in this city? Are you just going to act like they were never there?"  
  
"Don't you guilt me into this." Annie spat, turning to face him. Her eyes narrowed. "We're too embedded in it to just ignore it. Jared and I are their legacy. And I intend to preserve the memory for him without any of your guilt, emotional trauma, or petty tricks."  
  
"And there is your problem, Drake." Bruce scowled, shaking his head. "You're too blinded by pride to realize that some of that is necessary."  
  
"None of it is necessary, Bruce!"  
  
"It got the results required, and there were no complaints."  
  
"So why did my father leave?" Annie had him, and she knew it. She didn't dwell on it, however. She didn't have time to gloat, nor reason to. It was enough that he knew that she'd won the argument, at least for the time being. "So do you still want me?"  
  
"I've always wanted you to be Robin, Annie." Bruce laughed lowly and Annie shivered. There was something unnatural about the Dark Knight laughing. "It was just a matter of you being ready and proving yourself capable."  
  
"I…see. So where's Terry?"  
  
"He's on his way. I sent him on a quick errand. In the meantime, I suggest you suit up." He gestured to a case against the far wall. In it was a female's black body suit and dark red eye mask. Across the chest was Annie's symbol she'd worn as Komadori--the Robin symbol she'd designed. Somehow he'd gotten a hold of it. There were dark red gauntlets to go over the first layer of black material for her wrists and forearms.  
  
"You did know I was coming."   
  
"I already told you that. It was made specifically for you. Go on and change. I want to see what you look like."  
  
Annie shook her head and went to do as he said. "I don't understand you, Bruce Wayne."  
  
"Few people do."  
  
She changed quickly--the material was comfortable but incredibly hard to get on because of the texture. All her life she'd only gone in black spandex or some derivative thereof, and this suit had wires and weaponry built in. It was certainly different, but she would master it quickly. That she promised herself.  
  
"You need to lose some weight." Was all Bruce said when she stepped out.  
  
Her eyebrow went up. "I could say the same to you." Using his words, with an equally calm countenance, might get him to ease up. "It's muscle, Bruce. Not fat. It isn't my fault my body isn't slender like my mother's."  
  
"I'm not faulting you for curves, Drake. All I said is that you need to lose some weight."  
  
Annie couldn't believe what she was hearing. She might not be the paper-thin girl some of her peers were, but she was still small for her height. Petite, her mother would say. Her years of study had turned much of her body fat into lean muscle, and for Bruce not to recognize that was shocking.  
  
"In all honesty, Bruce, I don't give a damn. I'm healthy. That's all I need."  
  
"I'm glad to hear that. The last thing I need for a Robin is some bulimic."  
  
A Robin? And to accuse her of being a bulimic? "Bulimia, like Anorexia nervosa, is a disease, Bruce." She spat, eyes growing dark. "Girls don't ask for it. They are led to believe things that are not true from whatever source and thus make the choice to do terrible things to themselves. Most don't see it as a problem. But they are victims. I had a friend who was Bulimic and she purged one too many times, ruptured her esophagus, and choked to death on her own vomit."  
  
"I know very well what it does."  
  
"I know you do. Which is why I'm wondering why exactly you brought it up?"  
  
"Bulimia is a psychological condition that can be brought on by depression and a lack of adequacy in society." Bruce replied. "I know that you've been depressed, and I know about that stunt you pulled with the shukusen."  
  
Annie touched her wrists lightly. This is Bruce Wayne, she told herself, he knows everything, no matter how secret it might seem. "Regardless of my past, I'm ready now. If you need me, I can help, but if you don't, I'll continue going out on my own. Stop playing games with me."  
  
"Then go down to Pier 237 on the south docks. There's a smuggling operation going on between America and Japan involving narcotics and counterfeit."  
  
"Busy bastards, aren't they?"  
  
Bruce reached up and smacked her with his cane.  
  
"Ow! What was that for?"  
  
"Don't curse when you're in my presence." he replied. "I don't think Powers is behind this, he's too smart for narcotics. No, I think this might involve Luthor."  
  
Annie could see Bruce's mind kicking into sleuth gear, and she was glad for once to hear him speaking of something other than how much of a disappointment she was. "Luthor? In Metropolis?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then why are we going after him? Why doesn't Clark or Kon-El?"  
  
"They're in our territory now."  
  
I'm only here a few months and something involving LexCorp comes up, Annie thought as she glided above the city on her hoverboard, suited up as Robin. Why does trouble follow me? She spotted the docks and landed on Pier 235; she couldn't afford to be seen. She knew how desperate some narcotics dealers were, especially if they smelled a bat. Scanning the area for McGinnis, she saw a shadow move past a crate, and she sprinted after him.  
  
"So you came, eh?" Batman whispered when she caught up to him. They now stood on Pier 236, and had a clear view of the criminals on the dock ahead.  
  
"I couldn't let you have all the fun." Annie remarked. "But you're one step ahead of me if you know how to work these suits. I'm used to something a little more…archaic."  
  
"Yeah, well watch yourself. These are professionals. Have a look." He touched the side of her cowl and her view through the mask suddenly zoomed forward. For a split second, she found herself missing Michael and their nightly runs. The whim was quickly forgotten, however, as something familiar caught her eye.  
  
"I know that man."  
  
"Which?"  
  
"The one limping, with an eye patch."  
  
"The gimp?"  
  
"His name's Eddie. Kentaro and I caught him and a few others busting into a bank in Osaka where they kept the government's minting plates. I'll bet you anything they're working for the same person."  
  
"Yeah, but why counterfeit money if you're dealing narcotics? Second income?"  
  
"Two reasons." Annie said softly. "One--if they want to buy narcotics, they'll get them without spending anything. If they have plates…they could do anything. Two--you know that powdery feel to older, laundered money that you get after it's been put through enough registers?"  
  
"Yeah, what's that got to do with narcotics?"  
  
"They could lace the counterfeit money with powdered narcotics to distribute to anyone they wanted without being caught. It's the same principle they used in the second world war to smuggle Jews out of the country without being caught by the SS men. They would lace handkerchiefs with powdered rabbit's blood to dull the noses of the dogs so that when they went aboard the boats, they would find nothing. You can put a powder almost anywhere, weave any plant into a fiber, encase it inside creds without it being detected."  
  
Batman stared. "Damn." He said. "Bruce, did you say you had doubts as to who her Dad is?"  
  
Shut up, McGinnis. She has a point. That could very well be it, but we can't be sure. Stay there and watch for anyone who might be in charge.  
  
"Anthrax all over again." Terry sighed. "There's one thing I don't get--how do you know that the gimp is Eddie?"  
  
"I'm the one that gave him the limp and the patch."  
  
"Remind me to never make you angry." He continued to scan the docks. "Hey, Bruce, isn't that--"  
  
Barbara has been alerted. She's got stings all over the docks.  
  
"And you were going to tell me this when? Need I remind you that Gordon wants my head on a platter?"  
  
"Quit complaining." Annie hissed. "I see an opening. Let's go."  
  
Without waiting for Batman, she slipped back into the shadows, moving among the large shipping crates with ease.  
  
"Bruce, she's--gah, is she crazy?" Batman hissed into the phone, hurrying to catch up.  
  
In this line of work you have to be a little crazy, McGinnis. Get a move on.  
  
"You like her, don't you? Why act differently?"  
  
Not the time to ask, McGinnis. Follow her or you'll lose her, believe me.   
  
Annie landed softly near a crate that shielded Eddie from view of his henchmen. She watched him lift a cigarette to his lips with a shaking hand--good, he was nervous. The beating she'd given him had had the desired effect. His good eye darted from shadow to shadow, unaware that the real threat was just behind him.  
  
But Robin had no need to make a move on him yet.  
  
Ears pricked for any approaching threat she waited, silently observing more closely the deal that was being negotiated. This was far bigger than anyone had anticipated, and certainly the biggest case she herself had ever been involved in. So many faces, anonymous faces, ones that would blend with anyone on the street. With the exception of Eddie, none of them looked shifty in any way. She surmised that several had children, families of their own, to whom they returned daily from a nine-to-five job in the daily grind of the Gotham City rush. Few if any knew how deep this went--they probably considered it just another income--since so many men were too many loose ends, too many possibilities for squeakers.  
  
If this was a sting operation, she would have to tread carefully--the last thing she needed was her aunt Barbara's lecture in addition to Bruce's imminent tirade. Patience had never been her strongest suit, and she had to use every bit of her training now to fight the urge to move in. Then something caught her eye--Eddie was heading away from the dock, toward a group of warehouses just beyond the waterline.  
  
She had to follow him.  
  
Silently, carefully, she made her way between the crates and over the roofs of the warehouses, making her movements equal his, steps ginger when his stepped so, and quick when he dashed between shadows. Eddie looked around quickly before entering the warehouse on the far eastern side; Annie found a window in the roof and took shelter there, sticking close to the old wooden shingles. Peering in the window, she saw three men, all in business suits, sitting around a table, a hanging lamp the only light in the dark, worn down room. She couldn't make out exactly what they were saying, but she knew that something wasn't right.  
  
"Eddie, you was supposed to…damned shipment on…!" One of the men yelled.  
  
"There were hang-ups…couldn't get…blue boys showed up." That was Eddie. She couldn't tell just how much firepower they had on them, but they had two thugs with what looked to be advanced versions of Tommy guns. God, she hated guns. She shook the thought away. She had to get inside, somehow. Looking further up the roof, she found her chance: a skylight was open to allow for ventilation. Now all she had to do was get in without letting the moonlight cast a shadow.  
  
"Batman, this is Robin," she said softly into her link, "I'm at an abandoned warehouse a ways off the docks…number…." She paused to verify the number, "Number 42."  
  
"Okay, Robin. Wait for me before going in." Batman replied.  
  
"If I do that, I might miss my chance. Meet me here."  
  
"But--"  
  
She turned off her radio; she didn't have time to hear him arguing with her. She had to go now. She waited until Eddie and the other men had their backs to the skylight, and slipped in under cover of shadow, stepping carefully among the rafter timbers, knowing that their age might give away her position. She silently thanked God for her father's drills over the pond; whenever she made a noise on the beam, her father would knock her off of it and into the water. It had taken hundreds of dunkings before she was able to master her weight and footing, and avoid weak spots. She could hear the conversation quite well now. The man in a blue suit motioned to a thug and the thug stepped forward.   
  
"The boss wants his cocaine, Eddie." He said. "And you don't want to make the boss angry."  
  
Eddie started to fidget in place; he was nervous. Something hadn't gone right. "But Joe, it wasn't my fault, see. There was blue boys everywhere--"  
  
"We don't pay for excuses, Eddie. We pay you so's you get the job done." Joe waved a finger at the thug at his side and he cocked his gun.  
  
"No, Joe, please, I'll have it for ya, in just a few days, you gots my word!"  
  
"Your luck just ran out, Eddie." Joe raised his hand again.  
  
She couldn't let them shoot Eddie, henchman or not. She swung down and knocked the thug at Joe's side to the floor, delivering the knifehand she had practiced so long to his neck.  
  
"What the hell? Shoot her!" Joe cried, obviously taken aback.  
  
Annie had more time than she'd thought. The other thug fumbled with his weapon.  
  
"I thought you said no one followed you, maggot?" Joe screamed, pulling a small handgun.   
  
"I--No one did! I swears it!" Eddie was tripping over himself trying to get away. She couldn't do anything at the moment. She caught one of the other men trying to escape. "You're not going anywhere." She kicked him in the groin, stomach and then the head, and dodged three bullets as the thug got a handle on his weapon. She saw the third man dash out of the warehouse with a suitcase. She wouldn't be able to stop him and prayed Batman would.  
  
The thug was a good shot; she was having trouble dodging all of his bullets. She had to try another tactic. She took to the rafters again, where she was at least partly masked from the thug's aim, and came down right on top of Joe. She pulled him into an easy choke and wrenched his gunhand behind his back, the force causing him to drop the gun. "Why don't you play nice?" She asked. The thug didn't seem to realize what was going on and fired a few shots at her feet.  
  
"Don't shoot, you moron!" Joe cried. "Ack--let me go, bitch!"  
  
She only pulled harder. "Get out of here." She said to Eddie.  
  
He seemed rooted to the spot, petrified."But--"  
  
"NOW!" She yelled, and he took off running. Then she used an open palm to strike him in the small of his back, and he crumpled. No longer shielded, she knew she had seconds to get back to the shelter of the rafters. She swung up onto the closest one she could reach and as she moved to reach for higher ground, she felt a searing pain in her shoulder. She tripped, and felt her body hit something hard. Then nothing…  
  
When Annie woke, she found herself in almost total darkness, alone on an observation table. It was cold, and she was stripped of the suit. She was covered only with a white sheet and chills flowed down her body. She tried to sit up and winced--her torso was tightly bound with cloth bandages. She'd broken a few ribs. But how? Looking around, she could distinguish a low-lit doorway high above her head.  
  
She was inside the Batcave. Her heart beat faster as panic began to set in. Where was everyone? She remembered the last time she was as scared as she now was--it was the day her parents were murdered, so long ago now, but still fresh in her mind. Breath came short as she began to hyperventilate and look frantically for signs of life. She remembered falling through the air, hitting something hard, and then…nothing. It didn't seem right. Where was Bruce? Where was Terry? Or even Ace? She suddenly wished her father was there.  
  
"Easy, Drake. Lie down." Terry appeared instantly by her side and eased Annie back onto the table.  
  
She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out and in her mind she cursed. It wasn't enough that she'd had to speak in sign until she was five, now she would have to do it again. Damned brain trauma.  
  
Luckily Terry seemed to interpret the look of confusion and anger on her features. "I got there just as they hit you. You'd put two of the suits out and one of the thugs, but the one left shot into the rafters and caught you in the shoulder," he motioned to another bandage and she remembered that sourly, "and as you fell back, you hit your head pretty hard and then fell into a bunch of crates. Right about then the Commissioner busted in with some of her people and I just grabbed you and brought you back here. All things considered, you still did pretty well."  
  
"You're lucky McGinnis was there." Bruce's voice. Annie craned her neck to see him walking up directly behind McGinnis, cane in one hand and something she didn't recognize in his eyes; it was a mixed expression of concern and anger. Had he actually been worried about her? "Your voice will return within a few days. What worries me is that you went ahead and--without going over it with me first--went after Eddie. You could have ruined the sting, Drake!"  
  
Annie frowned and pointed her finger into an open palm and across it, using her mother's sign language.  
  
"What's she saying?" Terry asked.  
  
"You moved away from the docks, yes, but you chased him up to the roof of one of the foreclosed warehouses, Annie! Without thinking he might be going to a higher--"  
  
She began to gesture broadly and nodded vigorously.  
  
"You knew they would be there." Bruce said coldly. "You obviously misjudged their ability to fight."  
  
She thrust her arm out at the costumes encased against the wall.  
  
"Occupational hazard, yes." Bruce nodded, and Annie saw something change in his eyes.  
  
"Occupational hazard? You're going to get killed, Annie!" Terry cried. "You aren't going to let her go out again, Bruce?"  
  
"Yes, she will. All that has changed is that she's learned that she isn't a superhuman, and perhaps it's better this way, McGinnis." He turned to Annie. "Go to sleep, Drake. You've caused enough storms since you got here, no need to incite any more." 


End file.
